So, when I first start writing these evolution raps, about six months ago,
Some of the early drafts, they sounded kinda like this:
“Yo, yo, the Origin of Species
Ain’t no feces, dawg, believe me…”
And that’s all I could think of
So then I thought, this needs to be re-written
And sometimes people ask: “How does your show get written?”
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And how do I generally develop my lyricism?
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And how do human beings ever learn to do anything?
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And evolution is really an algorithm that goes
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
So the genetic code of every living thing was written.
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
See, the genes are like a text with a thousand pages.
And revision occurs in the random changes
That come from mutations, and when they see the light
That’s the performance, that’s the phenotype
And natural selection is the feedback side
That’s about who survives and whose genes catch rides
In the next generation, yes, what I’m saying
Is that a rap performance like this is the best illustration
Of the way descent with modification works
‘Cause the performance is necessary to change the words
To decide which have an impact and which to send back
To the drawing board, in fact I just did that
When you failed to react, ’cause any line can change
And mutations occur when I improvise on stage
‘Cause up until this moment, everything I said was off the page.
But now it’s time for me to switch to freestyle, yeah, random speeches
Charles Darwin was right, you could examine his thesis
Even though creationists are always trying to smash it to pieces
Evo devo people found for it up in an animal’s fetus.
And archaeologists found evidence for it up in ambulocetus
Yeah, that’s the bones they found of a walking whale.
I’m kinda cocky with my tales, plus I see evidence for evolution
Everytime I talk to females; You can see it in their eyes
The way they sparkle, with my vocabulary
Plus they’re kind of impressed that I rap on the Tales of Canterbury
So when I talk to my ancestors in my sleep, I’m like “Thank you very
Much!” ‘Cause you gave me the skills to leave mad descendants
Yes, creationists are mad pretentious; I’m just tryin’ to smash these sentences
I’m tryin’ to dispel all creationist myths like I was Daniel Dennett
Because I think religion is pretty much just an anaesthetic
But I’m gonna have to take it to that place, and rap frickin’ awesome
Yes, you know I’m tryin’ to be the Hip-hop version of Richard Dawkins
Even though his attitude can sometimes be a little pompous
I think his powers of logic are frickin’ awesome
Plus he’s dealin’ with the central problem of modern life
It’s belief in reason versus passive belief in an afterlife
Which leads to things like animal and human sacrifice
Yeah, I’m tryin to come through kinda shifty
Like I was a purse-snatcher; you can call me the word-master
Most rappers next to me kinda look like Homo ergaster
Or Homo erectus I’m just tryin’ to use Darwin
To get a total perspective that’s right, that’s how I rip it up
Creationists are trippin’ up; yes, I’m tryin’ to take it back
To the days of Australopithecus, you could try to follow me
But first you’d better study human nature and base it
On primatology; otherwise it won’t be very worthy
Just ask Ms Sarah Hrdy; yes, she had some theories
That she tried to give to all of us, yes, I’m tryin’ to abolish
All the creationist non-knowledge, and show them evidence
Like the bones of Tiktaalik; yes, this is how I’m just
Tryin’ to represent it for my fam; I learned about my origins
Up in the Descent of Man
And that’s how my show gets written and re-written
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And anyone can use this algorithm to learn anything
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
But remember, you get the feedback, and you make the decision
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
You wanna know about evolution? This is the definition
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
Survival of the Fittest
Yeah, I’m sendin’ this one out to my evolutionary psychology people
Yeah, David Buss, Cosmides and Tooby, yeah Geoffrey Miller
Yeah, we livin’ this ‘til the day that we die
Survival of the fit, only the strong survive
There’s a war goin’ on outside no man is safe from
You can run but you can’t hide forever
If you come to my block, you’ll see some territoriality
A place where kill or be killed is the mentality
But get it straight, it’s just a necessary strategy
You gotta play the hand you’re dealt; you can’t magically
Escape from the habitat that you was born in
Three homicides in my neighbourhood this mornin’
Cops came and kicked the crooked door in, with no warnin’
And started roughin’ up my young cousin
She’s only seventeen and got a bun in the oven
Plus a concussion, but she ain’t done nothin’
So keep your mouth shut and don’t jump to judgment
On the lives we’re livin’ – just close your eyes and listen
While I break down some homicide statistics
So if you’re thinkin’ the criminal mind is just vacant
You’re mistaken, this is calculated risk takin’
We’re livin’ in a situation with a low
Life-expectancy, and a major discrepancy
Between the haves and the have-nots, and you wonder
Why the padlock on every cash box is smashed off
C’mon, you can’t call it “pathological”
Nah, that’s illogical; you can try to understand it
But you can’t stop it though, not unless you address
The root causes, the conscious and unconscious
Decisions to discount future prospects
C’mon, it’s obvious – the beat keeps bouncing
The homicide rate keeps mounting, which leads
To steep discounting, and a lot of violence
But it’s not a virus; it’s a rational response
To high risk environments and short time horizons
With high stakes and highly visible prizes
And you wonder why we’re criminal-minded
Hey, you can’t say we’ll get satisfaction if we’re patient
With self-control and delayed gratification
When the only job that pays is casket-makin’
And death is the ultimate plan cancellation
So check the facts and recent data releasin’
You’ll see a pattern of increasin’ competition
A bunch of young guys all stugglin’ and status seekin’
And causin’ the crimes that make the social fabric weaken
And life expectancy also predicts teen pregnancy
The need to leave a legacy genetically
Will never be completely controlled contraceptively
Yeah, that’s transparent – imagine if your kids
Would never meet their grandparents, unless you followed
The Bristol Palin plan for parenthood
And then they say, “Ooh, these young girls are so damn careless
Getting’ pregnant before marriage; it’s such a tragedy”
Apparently it’s also a reproductive strategy,
Especially when you can see them adjusting actively
When their circumstances change; in both the cases
Of the young ladies with babies and the male risk-takers
You see people adapting to their situations
And it’s the same in different places and with different races
This is not about ethical justifications
It’s evolutionary psych, and it’s just the basics
And still people call this behaviour “maladaptive”
Because of our reaction when violence happens
But if we really want to change the outcome
Then maybe we should just start questioning how it’s adaptive
And the bottom line is that inequity and life
Expectancy are the ultimate causes of crime
And the results of crime; to me that’s true
The two combine together in a feedback loop
But I got some moves to make, so I’ll be back soon
Just don’t ask me what I’m about to do
‘Cause I can’t say, so it’s left to untold fact
Until my death, my ghost will stay alive
Survival of the fit, only the strong survive
That’s right, we livin’ this ‘til the day that we die
Survival of the fit, only the strong survive
(Repeat 4X)
Yeah, sendin’ this out to all my evolutionary psychologists
Daly and Wilson, Steven Pinker, Robert Wright, yeah
David Sloan Wilson, yeah that’s right, gather the evidence
Make it real, make it real. Human mentality represent
Yeah, this is human nature – human nature to the core
I’ma get mine, and you get yours. Don’t question my actions
Unless you’re ready to make a little addition, before I make a subtraction
End you up in traction. That’s right, I love scrappin’
Peace
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